"I met Gray when I was going to fight Kenny (Florian), he was the main event against Frankie (Edgar). We were always joking around with each other. From there we started a friendship. I told him it would be great if he could come train with us. Good for him and good for us. It's great to have such a talented guy come over. And thank god, now was a good time for him to come. He came around now that I am needing a wrestler to train with. Gray is a great wrestler who has a lot of experience and is a great competitor. So it was great to have him test our skills. I hope this partnership will last, and that he will come train for his fights here. For us to learn from him and for him to train with a lot of good lightweights."
UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo brought in the big guns to prepare him for his next title defense against Chad Mendes at UFC 142 this Sat., Jan. 14, 2012, at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. After striking up a friendship at the UFC 136 event they both competed on, Aldo asked former lightweight title challenger Gray Maynard to come help get him ready for the biggest grappling test of his career. It was incredible timing, really, that led to these two getting together just in time for "Scarface" to get some solid work in with an accomplished 155-pound wrestler. But will "The Bully" be able to teach him enough to defeat "Money" Mendes this Saturday night?